1. Field of the Invention
While pets' teeth do not require the same considerations as human teeth, substantial debris is accumulated and tartar formed which can lead to periodontal disease, resulting in bad breath and loss of teeth. Therefore, on a periodic basis, it has been necessary to have veterinarians scale the teeth, so as to remove plaque and tartar which can lead to caries formation, diseases of the gums, or other oral problems. Scaling of a pet's teeth is a time consuming operation which is uncomfortable to the pet. Furthermore, since semi-soft diets are the prevailing diet, substantial tartar and plaque rapidly accumulates creating an offensive breath for the pet which subsists for extended periods of time. With increasing age of the pet, there is increasing concern with diseases of the gums.
In view of the problems with a pet's teeth, it is desirable to find some way to protect the teeth between the extended periods, where the pet is taken to the veterinarian for scaling. However, brushing of a pet's teeth has problems uniquely different from the brushing of a human's teeth. There is the obvious problem of cooperation by the pet as a strange device, such as a toothbrush, is placed in its mouth. Even assuming a docile pet, unlike human beings, the pet will ingest substantially all of the toothpaste, so that the toothpaste must not only be ingestible, but one that does not have undesirable side effects. There is, therefore, a need for a simple and efficient method for brushing a pet's teeth, where any adverse response to the use of a toothbrush is overcome by the desirable or pleasant experience produced by the toothpaste or powder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional toothpaste compositions may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,839,448; 2,876,166; 2,946,725 and 3,227,618.